Kiba's Questions
by hurtingflies
Summary: KibaHina. Kiba and Hinata, beneath a tree on a hill.
1. One

Unnecessary Disclaimer: Poor college student here. Nothing owned, nothing gained.

* * *

Inuzuka Kiba had questions. What groceries he would need for the coming week. Why Akamaru ran wild in the house at hearing raindrops drum on the roof. Why sometimes, on the nights when it was hardest to fall asleep, he felt an emptiness growing in something that was not quite his stomach.

Yes, Kiba had many questions. He pondered over them while waiting under a tree on a hill for his former teammate, fingers skimming idly over cool blades of grass as Akamaru romped in a sunbeam just outside the shade.

Kiba's ears twitched at the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps; if he squinted just so against the sunlight, he could make out the features of one Hyuuga Hinata."I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, Kiba-kun," Hinata said somewhat breathlessly before lowering herself against the tree beside Kiba. "My father wanted to speak with me." Her voice was still slight after all these years, but held little of the former uncertainty. She sounded now somewhat agitated, but then, encounters with her father often had that effect. Akamaru trotted over to the two, nudging his head beneath Hinata's hand. Hinata readily cuddled the dog, giggling softly when Akamaru's tongue met her chin."Ah, that's alright. Are you hungry? I packed us lunch."Hinata smiled at a face that was not quite looking at her and nodded agreeably. "Thank you," she said as she was handed a box, but Kiba thought that maybe the twinkle in her eye was thanks enough. And if their fingers brushed in the passing of the box, well, that was more than a fair enough exchange.She ate the slightly odd-tasting food, smiling a secret smile as she imagined Kiba preparing it: clumsily, and earnestly. Everything Kiba did, it seemed, was done with an adorable earnestness.Kiba ate quietly, carefully, in her presence. He was calm for her, could set aside his manic persona for her, so they could share these simple soft moments."So, what did your father want to talk about?" Kiba asked conversationally, nudging Hinata's side gently with his elbow. "Or is it top secret Hyuuga business?" He looked down at her, eyes not concealing his mirth.Hinata, upon seeing Kiba's kind face and meeting Kiba's warm eyes, could not deny him a forced laugh. Immediately his features shifted, furrowing and narrowing with concern. "Hinata?" he prompted softly when she didn't speak.She allowed herself a soft sigh, setting down her lunchbox as she suddenly became aware of the salt in her food. Impulsively she reached up and closely watched a nearly translucent finger trace one of the red marks on his face. Kiba held his breath until the hesitant touch retreated, only to tense again as she laid her head against his shoulder. Breathing shallowly, he asked himself why this delicate proximity seemed to widen the gaping hole inside of him."I will marry," came out, isolated between silences, softer even than her usual words.Kiba felt that something-not-his-stomach expand to his chest, pushing upward into his throat so that he could not speak.==Hinata lay in bed that night, hand pressed firmly to the skin of her belly, trying to stop the aching growth inside her.==In his own bed Kiba asked Akamaru what had happened beneath that tree on the hill, receiving only a whimper and a lick in response. He could still feel the whisper of a touch against his cheek.

* * *

Well, I don't know. When I started I meant for this to be a one-shot, but it doesn't seem like it'll work out that way. 


	2. Two

Thank you for the kind reviews! I didn't expect to get any. Seriously, I expected ZERO. But then I got some! Yay.

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They met, as they did many days, at the bottom of the hill. Once, after newly having become chuunins, they along with Shino had been ambushed while on an escorting mission. The three of them, however, all had exceptional sensory skills and were not ambushed easily. The fight was brief but intense and the enemies shortly overtaken. Afterward in a moment of sheer battle afterglow Kiba had moved to Hinata's side with unsettling speed. It was silly, really, an afterthought of a protective gesture. But when she'd reached out and brushed his fingers with her own, when he'd caught them and reinforced their contact with a firm grip, when she'd responded with a squeeze of her own, Kiba had felt something warm and fluid beneath his chest, had felt it spreading all through him. Had wiggled his toes and found that he felt it there, too.  
  
They mutually stopped, neither having the will to trudge up to the tree. Standing beside her now, Kiba wondered when this had ceased to be enough.  
  
He scratched the back of his head, forcing exuberance into his voice while speaking. "Say, Hinata, I didn't pack anything this time, so..." he faltered. "So let's go somewhere else to... eat," he finished lamely.  
  
Hinata looked down and nodded once before turning to follow his already retreating form into town.  
  
She walked a few steps behind him, Akamaru running back and forth, nipping gently at their ankles in an effort at alleviating the distress he sensed between them.  
  
Kiba hated it. He hated that they had walked away from the tree, that he had been the one to suggest it, that she was not walking beside him. Even so, he could think of nothing to say to her as he walked on. His frustration mounted, as did his pace, as he silently berated himself; while he had no words to express his feelings to Hinata, he had plenty for himself to fuel his self-incrimination.  
  
He walked furiously and with plummeting satisfaction until he felt a small resistance at his feet. He looked down to see that Akamaru had caught his teeth on Kiba's sock and was tugging and whining at him to stop. Kiba complied abruptly, looking behind him. Hinata stood a little distance away from him, twisting her fingers together.  
  
"K-Kiba-kun. Where are we going?"  
  
Kiba mentally kicked himself in the face, over and over. Where indeed. Finally he looked up, fiercely determined to look anywhere but at her face. "We're going to get something to eat," he said firmly. When she didn't answer, he met her eyes and kicked himself again, this time swiftly to the groin.  
  
"I thought maybe we could... t-talk... instead..."  
  
It hurt Kiba to look into her soft eyes, now drooping with the weight of sadness and a responsibility he would never know. When her face started to fall even more in the silence she took for his rejection, something in him twisted. His mind produced a macabre image of his intestines coiling around his heart and squeezing the pumping life out of it. After taking four long strides he caught Hinata in a crushing hug, holding on tighter and tighter and barely registering that she was doing the same.  
  
"It'll be okay," he said softly. Hinata's face was pressed to his chest and it occurred to him that she might be suffocating. He loosened his arms only to tighten them again when she reflexively squeezed at his retreat. Then, belatedly, "Sure. We can talk."  
  
Hinata said something that was muffled into his sweatshirt, but neither pulled away. After all, what could she say that hadn't already been said? That she would climb into his body if she could; that he would let her.  
  
But they couldn't stand like that in the middle of the road forever, could they? No, no they couldn't. So Hinata stepped back and Kiba released her, both of them noticing the curious glances thrown their way by various passersby. Hinata fidgeted.  
  
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Kiba asked. Man his reaction time was terrible today.  
  
"Let's go to your home. Can we?"  
  
Kiba wouldn't refuse such a gentle request; couldn't, even if he wanted to.  
  
He held her hand as they walked, this time in the direction of his house.  
  
==  
  
They sat across from each other at the kitchen table. He had a glass of water in front of him; she hadn't wanted anything in the form of refreshments. He looked intently at her, memorizing the details of her face, taking in the nearly-translucent skin, the silvery eyes that reflected emotions so clearly, the sweet pink lips being tugged fretfully at with tiny, white teeth. When she flushed at his scrutiny he took that in, too.  
  
"Father says it's about time," Hinata began. Kiba looked down at his water. "I'm seventeen and old enough." She silently begged him to look at her but he was very, very stubborn. "The man they've chosen, he's... old... old_er_." She could not bring herself to disrespect the man, just as she couldn't bring herself to disrespect her elders' decision. "I... don't want to."  
  
_Then don't_, Kiba screamed in his head. Instead he said in a low, gritty voice, "Hinata. I cannot comfort you about this."  
  
She understood. She hadn't actually meant to start babbling about her fiancé, but the words had spilled out all the same. After some silence which Hinata spent desperately searching for something of comfort, of use, to say, Kiba lifted his head with an agonized look in his eyes.  
  
"I'm sorry, Hinata. We've been teammates for five years and I still cut off your words with my obnoxious voice. We're friends, so anything you have to say to me," his eyes grew more anguished though the rest of his face was grimly set, "I want to hear."  
  
And Hinata, poor Hinata, grew even more miserable at the thought that Kiba would listen to her speak at the cost of his own pain. He'd known her when it was difficult for her to say anything, he remembered her, and he considered her even now. She was ashamed. But she had to explain herself, so she went on in a whisper of a voice.  
  
"Hanabi is growing stronger. She'll probably head the clan... later... if I'm not strong enough. But even so, I'm getting older... they need... offspring."  
  
Kiba's mind wandered to the children Hinata would have, beautiful little babies, chubby and pink-cheeked. He tried to hate them but failed, and moved on to hating himself.  
  
Hinata waited anxiously for Kiba to say respond. His eyes had glazed over and she panicked momentarily.  
  
"Well. You gotta do what you gotta do, right?" His broad grin didn't reach his eyes and he looked like someone different. "It's getting late. I'll walk you home."  
  
He didn't hold her hand and chatted animatedly about useless things. When they reached her home, she paused, but he placed a hand on the small of her back and gently pushed her onto her family's property. He was already headed back when he called a farewell over his shoulder.  
  
==  
  
Hinata stood at the bottom of the hill. She should have been kissed beneath that tree that swayed in the evening breeze. She should have but she hadn't been and regret hung like leaves above their shadow.  
  
"Hinata-sama," she heard from behind her. Neji-niisan, she identified. "It's late. Come."  
  
"Did they send you out to fetch me?" It was uncharacteristically bitter and she shifted uncomfortably, regretting having said it. They were not friends, but they were cousins, now connected by a delicate sliver of familiarity and consideration. She sought to strengthen their relationship, not to damage it. Words between them had already done enough of that.  
  
"Yes," came the terse reply. He waited for Hinata to reach his side before continuing and gave her a hard look. "But they couldn't have forced me if I was against it."

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Trust me, no one wants to see Kiba happy more than I do. Just bear with me for a bit, here.


	3. Three

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to review. I've noticed that some fics have hundreds of reviews to every chapter, but I'm just excited to read the few I get for this story. I really, really appreciate it.

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Kiba smelled… he smelled nice. Like fresh dirt and morning rain and faint traces of aftershave. Hinata was sure that no one else could smell so much like dirt and still so good. She thought about her fiancé, of how it would feel to stand close to him, if it would feel the same or nothing like standing beside Kiba at all. Hinata opted for "nothing like standing beside Kiba at all."

_I can still stand next to him, even after..._ But would it feel the same? Hinata didn't know. What she knew were Kiba's hands, large and calloused and warm, and Kiba's grin, and Kiba's short yet wildly tousled hair.

"Heh, that Naruto," he'd once said after they'd witnessed another one of Naruto's inexplicable victories. "He sure doesn't give up! I guess you can't help but admire a guy like that." Hinata had been in the middle of blushing at her too-obvious feelings for the energetic blond when Kiba had turned to her, eyes suddenly earnest and impossibly tender. "But you know, Hinata. I'm not so different from that guy. I'm loud and I like ramen, too, and I'd… I'd never give up on you, Hinata."

They'd both known that Kiba was no substitute for Naruto. They both knew that there was really no one like Naruto at all. But Hinata found that there was really no one like Kiba, either. No other would try so hard to make her smile, or do things so purely for her enjoyment. And more and more she'd begun to realize the question in Kiba's eyes whenever his grin was directed toward her. _Do you like me? Circle yes or no._ Hinata had found herself awake some nights tracing an unfamiliar tingling in the pit of her belly. She'd imagined that the slow patterns her fingers trailed were encircling a _Yes_ buried deep inside her.

Hinata knew Kiba, but she also knew her father's eyes, stern and unwavering and cold at the sight of her.

A loud knock startled Hinata out of her morning thoughts and she hurriedly left her bed to open the door.

"Hinata-sama!" The disapproving aunt on the other side of her doorframe clucked at Hinata's rumpled night clothes. "You are needed for breakfast."

"Of course," Hinata said, looking down at the floor. "I apologize for my tardiness."

Of course. Her presence would be required for a breakfast with her future husband. Quickly she washed and changed before scurrying down to the dining hall, wondering the whole way why it was that she hurried.

"Hinata," her father said from the head of the table. "It is unbecoming to keep your guest waiting."

"Sumimasen," she managed before carefully seating herself to her father's right and directly across from a man she hardly knew, whose gaze she found herself unable to meet. _Her_ guest.

"It will be a morning wedding," her guest said once food was settled into bowls and the table became a flurry a chopsticks. It was a firm man she would marry, one who was unrelenting and strong. Of course. Someone to make up for what she lacked. Hinata shook her head slightly at the direction her thoughts were taking and nodded twice to make up for it, realizing an affirmation was expected of her.

"If you wish it to be," she said softly, lifting her eyes just slightly to focus on a dish that was placed in front of the man she was addressing.

The rest of breakfast went on like that. Her guest would say something about how something would be, and Hinata would gracefully accept whatever was not-quite suggested.

After breakfast, Hinata washed and put away the dishes while her father took her guest out for a stroll.

"Hinata?" Kiba looked like he would have been surprised had he not been quite so tired when he opened the door and saw the girl on his front step.

"Kiba," Hinata greeted and waited for him to invite her in.

"What're you doing here?" Hinata's gaze fell. Kiba quickly inserted more of his foot into his mouth. "I mean, not that you're not allowed to or that you need a reason or anything…"

Hinata studied Kiba's shoes as he stammered. After noting every speck of dust that lined the rimming of his sole, she lifted her eyes to his face and said quietly, "Will you not invite me in?"

"Oh. Oh! Well it's kind of messy inside, you see, well, you've seen it before, it's messy in there!" Kiba forced a chuckle which stuck abruptly in his throat when he saw Hinata's eyes. "Of course you can come in, Hinata," he said softly, pushing against the door as Hinata ducked under his arm to enter.

Shorty afterward they found themselves in Kiba's bedroom, Kiba avoiding the table where he'd learned of Hinata's engagement.

"Hinata?" Kiba said softly, noticing the trembling he thought she'd grown out of. "Tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong, K-Kiba!" she said a little too loudly, and started shaking even harder.

Kiba moved slowly closer until they were sitting beside each other on his bed. "Hey," he whispered in her ear, "Shh." He didn't know why he was shushing the quiet girl who was currently making no noise at all, but it wasn't working because now she was crying.

This was the first time Kiba had ever seen Hinata cry. She seemed frail and was defeated often, but she'd never cried. Not in front of him and not in front of anyone he knew of.

Well, shit. Kiba did not know quite what to do. He suspected that his knee-jerk reaction of wanting to go off in search of tissues would be inappropriate and unappreciated, so he settled on waiting for her to stop crying.

Only… she didn't. Her sobs didn't grow louder and she wasn't wailing with self-pity, but the tears came, heavy and falling steadily from her white eyes.

"Hinata," Kiba tried again, only to be cut off by her small, wavering voice.

"Kiba-kun. I'm sorry about this. Please believe that I didn't mean to be like this." Kiba interrupted with soothing noises and denials of the necessity of her apology. Hinata went on anyway, overlapping his words in a way that was very unlike her. "I came to tell you that we're getting married on a morning a month from now…" She continued, spilling out all the information that had been decided on that morning at breakfast. "…and I wanted to ask… to make sure… that you would come." She took a deep breath as she finished.

Kiba's hand rose, calloused and warm, to cup Hinata's tear-streaked cheek. She was afraid to look at him, could feel the intensity shooting from his eyes. "I can't," he whispered fiercely. "I won't."

Hinata shuddered, tears still dripping off her face, as his thumb moved against her skin in a gentle caress. His hand slid downward, molding against her jaw, trailing down her neck until it settled just above her shoulder blades. He leaned in slowly, looking meaningfully into her eyes so that she knew without a doubt what he was doing.

So when their lips met, she was prepared, and had slightly parted her lips. When Kiba's other hand settled on the small of her back, she raised a hand of her own and laced her fingers into his hair. When his kisses, which started out so gentle it almost hurt, became deeper and longer, she took deeper breaths between them.

They broke off, panting and with frantically beating hearts, Hinata's arms around Kiba's neck and Kiba's forehead resting against her shoulder. Kiba's eyes were closed but Hinata's were wide open.

"I'd better go home," Hinata said a little breathlessly. Kiba nodded, eyes squeezed tightly shut, and released her from his grip.

Hinata could feel his touch burning through her skin, throbbing with heat as she matched her pace to her heartbeat, which slowed with every step she took.

* * *

Thanks for reading this far. I never intended for this to be a long fic—I really don't have the patience to write one of those wonderfully epic stories, and if I made the attempt I suspect it would only turn out awkward and drawn-out—and there's only a chapter or two left of it. I really hope you like it so far, because there aren't many KibaHina fics out there and I'd hate for this one to be a waste.


	4. hi!

It's been a while, huh? I've started working on this again, so maybe by next week I'll have a new chapter up. If anyone still reads this!


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